PC Software Loadout

This thread is to talk about what software do you use on your regular PC or simply your ideal software loadout.
Here’s the loadout I’d like to use on Linux.

:game_die::video_game: Entertainment :game_die::video_game:

  • Discord (Comms)
  • Minecraft (Game)
  • Soundpad with Proton (Micspam Software)
  • Steam (Game Launcher)
  • Thrive (Game)
  • Thrive Community Forums (you know what it is)
  • YouTube (without Google account)

:memo: Utilities :memo:

  • Atom (Text Editor)
  • Audacity (Audio)
  • Blender (3D)
  • ClamAV (Anti-Virus)
  • ESET Antivirus for Linux (Anti-Virus)
  • FFmpeg (Converter)
  • Gimp (Image)
  • HandBrake (Converter)
  • Inkscape (Vector Image)
  • Kdenlive (Footage)
  • Krita (Art)
  • LanguageTool (Grammar Checker)
  • LibreOffice (Replacement for Office 365)
  • MPV (Media Player)
  • Open Broadcaster Software (Recorder)
  • VLC (Media Player)
  • Wine (Windows File Runner)
  • WinRAR (Archiver)
  • Youtube-DLG (YouTube Downloader)

:globe_with_meridians: Web :globe_with_meridians:

  • Mozilla Firefox (Main browser)
  • Privacy Badger (Add-on)
  • ProtonMail (E-Mail account)
  • Thunderbird (E-Mail application)
  • Tor Browser (privacy browser)
  • Ublock Origin (Add-on)
  • Ungoogled Chromium (browser for larger downloads)

Did I forget anything?

When I last tried this, it was such a buggy mess that I probably lost over an hour trying to fix the timeline breaks it caused. I’d recommend instead trying Shotcut.

I don’t know why people even think about using WinRAR. Linux (at least gnome desktop) comes with much better archive manager tool already.

I wouldn’t use these at all.

Why would you use this? And not Firefox.
I got used to using Chrome for videos on Linux as Firefox used to lag videos with the amount of tabs I had open, but I’ve never had problems downloading big files with Firefox.

It’s because Kdenlive has more advanced features that could prove useful. When was the last time you used it? The only thing I hate about Kdenlive is that you can’t re-arrange tracks order, which makes it confusing.

What archive files does it support? Also, I intend to start with either Linux Mint or LMDE.

For YouTube-DLG, it does a pretty good job at downloading YouTube videos I need for either Soundpad or for footage. The only problem with Soundpad is that I don’t know if it’s compatible with Proton. Quick check on ProtonDB…

Well :belgium:

I don’t know how I would micspam play music then…

For the anti-virus, I don’t know if ESET really works, but is ClamAV really that bad? How do I set my own security?

I’d use Firefox all the time. However, some files are too large to be downloaded on Firefox, so I’d employ Ungoogled Chromium for those files instead of Chrome for the sake of my privacy.

Maybe 1.5-2 years ago? It was the time when the Thrive setup videos were uploaded to youtube.

That’s a mistake, I didn’t mean to include it there.
I’ve used the command line version of that myself.

ClamAV is for Linux email servers to scan for Windows malware and block it passing through.

I’ve not heard of good anti-virus for Linux. You just stick with reputable software sources with your package manager and besides that don’t have anything other than common sense to avoid viruses.

Why have I never heard of this?

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And what about Trojans and adware?

If I run Wine, can I risk getting a Windows virus?

I’ve heard that some Windows malware actually works correctly in Wine.
I get around this by basically never using it, the last 2 times I used Wine have been to test a sample project sent by someone applying to be on the team, and for Godot to run resedit in order to set the embedded name in a thrive release.

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It seems that there isn’t any user-friendly software to micspam on Linux. I’ll look into it when I have a bit more time.

What PDF software would you recommend?

I’m one of the unfortunate souls that actually used KDEnlive for a project. I had three different versions on my PC, because I at the beginning had to try to fix some weird mess that was related with it not liking Gnome’s Wayland (windows did not display, color picker didn’t work and a lot stuff just didn’t want to cooperate). It segfaulted so many times (especially when doing stuff in the timeline) that I was very happy it had a good recovery feature. Also, changing properties of filters just wasn’t being immediately reflected in the preview screen. Since I constantly worked on the project for three days, only interrupting my work to sleep or going to the bathroom, I managed to have it finished before the deathline (it wasn’t a very complex nor long project (2’42’'). Just needed some chroma-keying, music, cuts (most time consuming due to crashes and the fact that I had different original footages from which I had to sort out the best (or less bad) samples) and images (a bit time consuming due to fact that I had to look for media I was legally allowed to use)).
If I ever do something like that again, for sure will I use some different software.

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So it’s a pain on Gnome? What about other DE?

To fix the initial trouble I had, I switched to something other than Wayland (easily done by closing your sessions on the machine and then selecting X11 or something). So the colorpicker, windows and stuff started to be sorta useful after doing that change (segfaults and all the stuff described still occurred, though). I don’t know if it really depends on the Window Manager. It’s just very buggy software, I suppose.

I didn’t have that problem as I have nvidia so no Wayland for me…
Hopefully the next AMD GPUs are more powerful than my current one so that I can consider updating to get on open source GPU drivers.

Is there an open source software that is equally good to YouTube?
Otherwise, is YouTube the only best video platform in the whole wide world?

Not really, there is bitchute and peertube but bitchute is really weird and the audience there is definitely not mainstream and not open source and peertube is something i don’t know much about but it is open source and decentralized but it not really like youtube

but really a open source youtube software does not really make senses as youtube is a website and the main appeal of youtube is the huge catalog of videos and creators

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Name Scope Type Platform
Adobe Acrobat DC Closed source PDF Reader/Writer Windows, Mac
Atom Open source Text Editor/IDE Windows, Mac, Linux, Chrome OS
Audacity Open source Audio editing Windows, Mac, Linux
Blender Open source 3D Creation Windows, Mac, Linux, Steam
calibre Open source e-book Library Windows, Mac, Linux
diagrams[dot]net Open source Diagrams Drawing Windows, Mac, Linux, Chrome OS
Discord Closed source Comms Windows, Mac, Linux, FreeBSD, Chrome OS, Android, iOS
ESET Internet Security Closed source Antivirus Windows, Mac, Linux, Android
FFmpeg Open source Media converter Windows, Mac, Linux
GIMP Open source Image editing Windows, Mac, Linux
Handbrake Open source Video converter Windows, Mac, Linux
Inkscape Open source Vector Image creation Windows, Mac, Linux
Kdenlive Open source Footage Windows, Linux
Krita Open source Artwork Creation Windows, Mac, Linux, Steam
Language Tool Open source Grammar checker Windows, Mac, Linux, Android
Libre Office Open source Work Toolbox (e.g. Office 365) Windows, Mac, Linux
Minecraft Closed source Video game Windows, Mac, Linux
Mozilla Firefox Open source Web browser Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS
MPV Open source Media player Windows, Mac, Linux, Android
Notepad++ Open source Text Editor/IDE Windows
OBS Studio Open source Recording & Streaming Windows, Mac, Linux, FreeBSD
Privacy Badger Open source Web browser add-on Firefox, Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Opera
ProtonMail Open source E-Mail Platform Web, Android, iOS
SLAM ??? Source Engine Micspam Windows
Steam Closed source Game launcher Windows, Mac, Linux
Soundpad Closed source General Micspam Windows
Thrive Open source Video game Windows, Mac, Linux
Thrive Community Forums nil Forums Web
Thunderbird Open source E-Mail Application Windows, Mac, Linux
Tor Browser Open source Web browser Windows, Mac, Linux, OpenBSD, Android
Ungoogled Chromium Open source Web browser Windows, Mac, Linux
uBlock Origin Open source Web browser add-on Firefox, Chrome, Chromium, Edge, Opera, etc.
VLC Open source Media player Windows, Mac, Linux, Chrome OS, Android, iOS
Wine Open source Windows executer for other OS Mac, Linux, Android
WinRAR Closed source Archive manager Windows, Mac, Linux, ReactOS, Android
Xournal++ Open source Note taking Windows, Mac, Linux, Chrome OS, Android, iOS
YouTube Closed source Video Platform Web, Android, iOS
Youtube-DLG Open source Front-end for youtube-dl Windows, Linux
youtube-dl Open source YouTube video downloader Windows, Mac, Linux
Is there anything missing? What are your thoughts, guys?

Many of the things I’m saying have already been said by hhyyrylainen.
I seldomly hear of Linux machines, which are not hosting some internet service, running an antivirus. WinRAR is proprietary (you put a “???” there) and there are other archive managers out there that can be used (many of them support RAR files, but seemed to struggle a bit on my machine).
An alternative to Minecraft is Minetest. Most of the content the player cares about is added with mods (Minetest at its core is a bit like a framework on which games are run) and don’t worry, if you join a server the mods needed will automatically get downloaded. I don’t play it much, because in singleplayer I feel lonely and meaningless and my latency is too high for multiplayer outside my LAN.

I played some minecraft on Linux recently, and was pleasantly surprised to find that the FTB launcher with a bunch of modpacks to select works perfectly on Linux. Though you probably won’t be able to play the non-java edition of minecraft on Linux because of Microsoft.

It’s because I wasn’t sure since its wiki page just says “Trialware”. I think I’ll edit my post and make it “closed source”. Status: Updated.

I’ve played both Singleplayer and Multiplayer and I prefer SP over MP because I like it when I have my own rules (in Minecraft, though).

Ah belgium you, Microsoft!


A note on PDF software: I haven’t found any open source alternative that lets you edit like in Acrobat Standard/Pro. Could be a nice project to do.

I thought Minecraft only had a Java edition. I’ve not heard of it since 1.8, though, so if they wrote something else recently, that’s probably the reason. I wasn’t trying to imply that Minecraft did not work on Linux, but rather suggesting a similar game that may peak some reader’s interest.
I do sometimes play Minetest, but on LAN.

Since somewhere in 2011 Minecraft Bedrock edition came out, which is a version of minecraft that uses an engine built from the ground up for minecraft, (the same the console versions use) which means that they devs can work way easier on it. However, since Java edition is way more moddable, most of the community preferred it. Combine this with how both the engines and the people working on them are different, and you get the current situation where both version have content the other doesn’t have, and a lot of redstone tricks don’t carry over. It’s a pretty messy situation.
I’ve downloaded Bedrock once to test the VR version, and it was honestly just confusing how it was just barely different, but different nonetheless.

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That’s what happens when a big company tries to buy your cross-platform game.